Admirals Weekly - Oct. 23

Admiral's Weekly

COLTON SISSONS... If he feels any pressure as a second-round draft pick in his first pro season, Admirals forward Colton Sissons doesn’t show it on the ice. The North Vancouver, BC native tallied a goal and an assist Friday night in the win over the Griffins and had at least a point in the first three games this season, the only player to do so. Sissons was selected 50th overall in the 2012 NHL draft and completed his illustrious junior career with the Kelowna Rockets in 2012-13 with 67 points on 28 goals and 39 assists and an out-of-this-world +43 rating. Sissons served as the Rockets team captain and was invited to Team Canada’s World Junior Championship try-out, but was couldn’t attend because of injury.

FAMILIAR FACES…The Admirals battle Texas for each of their next two games, including this Saturday night. New to the Stars this season is center Chris Mueller, but he is anything but new to the Admirals. Mueller spent parts of the last four seasons with Milwaukee and was selected as the 26th best Admirals of All-Time. The Buffalo, NY native is second in the team’s AHL history with 87 goals and finished his Admirals career with 173 points in 262 games. Mueller is off to a torrid start with Texas, posting three goals and five assists in just four games.

SPECIAL TEAMS… After going 0-for-8 combined on the power-play in their first two games this season, the Ads PP has started to gain some momentum as did their penalty kill unit. The Ads combined for three power-play markers in 12 attempts last weekend, killed off 11 of 12 short-handed attempts and added a short-handed goal for good measure. Tony Bitetto tallied twice on the power-play on Friday and Simon Moser did the trick on Saturday night, while Mathieu Tousignant picked up a shortie on Saturday against the Wolves.

TWO FOR TWO… Number two Tony Bitetto matched his jersey number with goals last Friday, picking up the first multi-goal game of his career. Both of his tallies came on the power-play, which were also the first PPGs for the Admirals this season. The Island Park, NY native played in 34 games with the Ads in his rookie campaign last year, posting a goal and five assists to go along with 35 penalty minutes.

CENTURY MAN... Forward Kevin Henderson played in his 100th game as an Admiral last Friday night against Grand Rapids. The Toronto, ON native signed with the Ads as a free agent at the end of the 2011-12 season and last year played in 67 games, scoring 17 goals, good for third on the team, and 12 assists for 29 points and an impressive +13 rating. Henderson also made his NHL debut with Nashville, playing in four games and tallying a goal. He is the 59th Admiral to play in 100 games since the team joined the AHL in 2001. Unfortunately for Henderson, he was injured on Friday night and didn’t play in game 101 on Saturday.